[…] I’d like to see homebirth midwifery legalized and regulated in every state. I’d also like to see it as a covered expense on any health insurance policy that covers maternity. In Colorado, home birth midwifery is legal and regulated, but midwives have to jump through a lot of hoops to get paid on the rare occasions when their clients’ health insurance policies cover home birth expenses. […]
Maternity/Pregnancy
Surgery Might Not Be Best For Breech Births
[…] In the current quest to reform health care, everyone is talking about controlling costs. Lowering the rate of c-sections would have a significant impact on the cost of maternity care, since vaginal births are much less expensive than surgical births. Maternity care is something that most women eventually use, and lowered costs would translate to lowered health insurance premiums for all of us. […]
Hard To Please Everyone With A Single Health Plan
[…] There really is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to health insurance. In terms of health care reform, unless someone just starts handing out free health care (without tax increases or premiums…), it will be tough to get people to agree on a single plan, or even a handful of coverage options. […]
Cesarean Risks
Kathy’s article highlights the importance of truly informed consent, and points out the ways that women are swayed (manipulated?) towards opting for repeat c-sections in the name of safety, without being truly informed about the risks on both sides of the issue.
Only Two Health Insurance Options For Metro State Students
[…] But some students have done their own research and found an individual health insurance policy that better fits their needs and/or budget, and they would prefer to be given the option of keeping that policy. For those students, we feel that colleges should reconsider their waiver requirements and treat their students as adults who are capable of making their own decisions.
The Conscience Clause And Access To Healthcare
[…] Instead of requiring doctors to provide services that go against their moral beliefs, why not work to make sure that every community has providers who will perform a wide range of reproductive services? If clinics like Planned Parenthood get adequate funding, doctors practicing nearby could invoke the conscience clause without depriving the community of medical services.
Women And Healthcare
[…] If you’re up for a little controversy, PalMD at White Coat Underground has written about conscience clauses that allow medical providers to refuse to to provide care if it conflicts with their personal beliefs. A very good point raised in the article and comments is that the conscience clauses tend to be invoked in matters of reproductive health. […]
Health Insurance And Infertility Treatment
[…] One of the benefits of health insurance is the negotiated fee schedules between providers and health insurance carriers. When claims are considered “covered expenses” the billed amount is almost always reduced by the insurance company. Unfortunately, infertility treatments aren’t covered expenses and don’t get repriced by health insurance networks. […]
The Affordability Of Individual Health Insurance
[…] Colorado has average premiums below the national rate, at $141/month for an individual. If you’re healthy there are plenty of affordable options available, and in the event of a serious health problem, an individual health insurance policy will protect your assets. Which is why we have health insurance in the first place.
Colorado Earns D On Prematurity Report Card
The March of Dimes has released a report card on the nation’s premature birth rates. Colorado got a D. Not good, but we’ve got a lot of company: the whole country got a D overall. Only nine states earned grades higher than a D, and not one state got an A. It turns out that a lack of health insurance is a big part of the problem. […]
The Cover Colorado Option
[…] going uninsured means that if (when) they do run into an expensive medical problem in the future, they will be out of luck, as Cover Colorado (and other high risk pools) will enforce a waiting period on pre-existing conditions. So we still find ourselves in a situation where people are uninsured and lacking realistic access to health care.
Health Insurance Tax Credit Does Not Solve The Problem
[…] In order for health care reform to work, it has to work for everyone. We need a solution that spreads the cost of health care evenly across the entire population (adjusted for income, just as taxes are) and doesn’t leave large groups (like people with pre-existing conditions) to fend for themselves with no good health insurance options available.
Individual Health Insurance Reform
[…] while group health insurance is great for employees who have access to it, the increasing premiums are causing headaches for the employers. And for those with no access to group health insurance, pre-existing conditions can be a major hurdle in the quest for individual health insurance in Colorado and 44 other states that use medical underwriting.
Health Insurance 101
[…] We talk to clients in Colorado on a regular basis who aren’t aware that individual health insurance is medically underwritten. Since this is the case in 45 states, it’s not something you want to be finding out after you’ve already quite your job and lost your group benefits. A high school class detailing the basics of insurance would be a good start.
No Freedom Of Choice For CSU Grad Students
[…] to be a graduate student at Colorado State University, and needs to get a health insurance policy. Last year, CSU made a requirement for graduate and international students to have health insurance. The students may either get a policy through CSU’s Hartshorn Health Plan, or they can show proof of comparable coverage obtained elsewhere. The Hartshorn policy costs […]
200th Grand Rounds At Grunt Doc
The Colorado Health Insurance Insider post about ACOG and the AMA and their positions on homebirth was included, along with another post about the same topic from Dr. Tienchin Ho, who also believes that homebirth should remain a legal and supported option for American women […]
Shame On You ACOG and AMA
Since homebirths are so much less expensive than hospital births (we paid our Colorado-registered midwife $3000 for the birth and all prenatal and postpartum care), you would think that health insurance carriers would have a vested interest in crying foul with regards to Resolution 205. But I guess they would rather pay for hospital births. I find it sad that ACOG is so determined […]
Elective Cesareans Not A Complication Of Pregnancy
We got a notice in the mail yesterday from Humana, one of the health insurance carriers we represent in Colorado. They have revised their definition of complication of pregnancy to include cesareans, but not elective cesareans. I was very pleased to see this, and I’m glad that Humana is differentiating between the two. Obviously someone who schedules a c-section […]
Hospitals Are Not Doing Enough To Support Breastfeeding
according to a newsletter published by the Colorado Breast Feeding Task Force last fall, only one in five breastfeeding Colorado mothers had a hospital experience that exclusively promoted breastfeeding […]
C-Sections, Maternal Death, and Health Insurance
According to new government data, maternal death from childbirth is on the rise in the US, up to 13 deaths per 100,000 live births – 30 years ago the rate was 10 per 100,000 live births. The increase is attributed to several factors, including changes in how deaths are reported in some states, increasing maternal… Read more about C-Sections, Maternal Death, and Health Insurance